Writing and Reviewing Papers
for Medical Physics
William R. Hendee, Editor
Penny Slattery, Journal Manager
Andrew Karellas, Deputy Editor
David Rogers, Deputy Editor
Jeff Williamson, Incoming Editor
AAPM Gross Revenue
Citation Impact Factors
Free articles on
Medical Physics website











Medical Physics Letters
50th Anniversary Papers
Vision 20/20 Papers
Point/Counterpoint
Editor’s Picks
Award Papers
Review Papers
Special Focus Papers
Editorials
PhD Abstracts
Books and Publications
Open Access Articles in
Medical Physics
 Medical Physics is a hybrid Gold OA journal
 Authors select to have their manuscript OA
 Fee is $2,500.00
 Reviewers do not know if manuscript is to be
OA
 When OA article is published, a FREE icon
appears next to article title in TOC
Types of Articles in
Medical Physics
 Research articles
 Vision 20/20 articles
 Review articles (on-line only)
 Task group reports (on-line only)
 Technical reports
 Technical notes
 Medical Physics Letter
Types of Articles in
Medical Physics
 Special reports
 Correspondence
 Point-counterpoint debates
 Editorials
 PhD abstracts (on-line only)
 Errata
 Book reports
Categories of Papers in
Medical Physics
 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
 BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS
 CORRESPONDENCE
 EDITORIAL
 INFRARED AND MICROWAVE
IMAGING
 MAGNETIC RESONANCE PHYSICS
Categories of Papers in
Medical Physics
 MEDICAL PHYSICS LETTER
 NUCLEAR MEDICINE PHYSICS
 OPTICAL PHYSICS
 POINT/COUNTERPOINT
 RADIATION BIOLOGY
 RADIATION IMAGING PHYSICS
 RADIATION MEASUREMENT PHYSICS
Categories of Papers in
Medical Physics
 RADIATION PROTECTION PHYSICS
 RADIATION THERAPY PHYSICS
 TASK GROUP REPORT
 THERMOTHERAPY PHYSICS
 TISSUE MEASUREMENTS
 ULTRASOUND PHYSICS
 VISION 20/20
Types of Authors
 First author
 Co-authors
 Corresponding author
 Senior author
Multimedia Submissions
 EPAPS – Electronic Physics Auxiliary Publication
Service, repository for supplemental information
 http://www.aip.org/pubservs/epaps.html
 Multi-media
 http://www.aip.org/epaps/epaps_multimedia.html




Movie files
Audio files
Animated .gifs
3D renderings
Preparing a Manuscript for
Medical Physics
 Medical Physics on-line submission site
http://medphys.peerx-press.org/cgi-bin/main.plex
 AIP Style Guide
http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/toc.html
http://www.aip.org/pubservs/authserv.html
Editorial Process Overview









Authors submit manuscript
Journal Manager checks manuscript format/compliance
Editor assigns associate editor
Associate editor assigns referees
Referees submit reviews to associate editor
Associate editor makes recommendation to editor
Editor makes decision
Decision communicated to authors
Process may repeat through several iterations
Manuscript Validation by the
Journal Manager
 Initial QC
 Check for cover letter, manuscript file with title
page and structured abstract included
 If revision, look for point-by-point response
 Manuscript file as Word or Tex document, single
column, double spaced
 Tables and figures included in article where
mentioned
 For revision, figures also listed in separate figure
files and numbered correctly
References
 Should be assigned consecutive numbers
 Should then be listed in the same order on a
separate sheet
 Titles of articles, complete lists of authors,
and inclusive pagination must be included
 A list of standard abbreviations for journal
names appears in the AIP Style Manual
Line Numbering
Your Article File
 Reviewers have requested that authors insert line
numbering
 Done for ease of reviewing
 Authors can use in their point-by-point response
 Guidelines for line numbering can be found at
http://www.medphys.org/NewInstructions.asp
Common Manuscript Deficiencies







Incorrect grammar
Illogical composition
Obscure writing
Verbose writing
Deviation from AIP Style Manual
Poor illustrations
Mathematical errors
Common Manuscript Deficiencies
 Over-reaching of results
 Inadequate literature review
 Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
 Multiplication of papers
 Separation of supplemental material
Helpful Hints for PeerX-Press







For technical help, email pxphelp@aip.org
Approve converted files
Run Spell Check
Check figure numbers
Address cover letter to correct Editor
Include correct email address
Check and double check the presentation of
the files
Authors’ Response to Reviews
 Courteous and fair
 Accept or challenge
 Annotated response
 Rapid response (3 month deadline)
 Decision appeal
Excess Page Fees
 Charged if published article exceeds
10 journal pages
 Cost is $200.00 per page
 To approximate article length, divide double
spaced, single column text pages by three, and
total number of figures by four
 If cannot pay excess page fee, do not exceed
10 journal pages
Criteria for Associate Editors
and Referees
 Expertise in topic of manuscript
 Publication experience
 Maturity in field
 No conflicts of interest
 Responsive to previous requests
 Timely responsiveness
 Thorough and courteous reviews
Guidelines for Referees
 Comments to authors and to editor
 General and specific comments and
recommendations
 Critical and impersonal evaluation
 Original, unpublished work
 Accuracy, originality and completeness
 Clarity and succinctness of writing
 Grammatical and compositional errors
Guidelines for Referees
(continued)
 Quality and necessity of illustrations/tables
 Comprehensiveness of literature review
 Paper and reference format
 Relevance of title and structured abstract
 Appropriateness of subject
 Negative comments
What Follows the
Decision Process
 Notification
 Acceptance letter
 Manuscript is put in production queue
 Copy-editing
 Galley Proofs
 Author Sign-off
Publication in Journal
 Accelerated On line publication
 Appearance in Print